The development of automatic transmissions for front wheel drive has included various planetary gear sets which are normally arranged with an output element between the gear set and the engine and including a plurality of friction elements to provide the forward drive ratios. A need has been established to make such transmissions more compact with a minimum of number of elements to establish required ratios. Solutions known to this date usually include a pair of friction elements for each ratio required and normally provide an all hydraulic drive path when a torque converter mechanism is used.
The present invention is adapted to solve the above problem as will be clear from the ensuing description.